DG AGRI's Unit C.4 - Monitoring and Evaluation

Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Unit C.4 (Monitoring and Evaluation) is in charge of evaluations and studies on any CAP topic, including the planning, contracting and management of evaluations and studies.

​The unit has four main objectives

to plan, develop, manage and report on evaluation activities, providing information on the effectiveness, efficiency and relevance of measures applicable in agriculture (pillar I - direct payments to farmers and market measures and pillar II - rural development measures);

to assist Member States in evaluation activities;

to run the Expert Group on Monitoring and Evaluating the CAP;

to provide support for the planning and financial and contractual management of external studies and European Parliament pilot projects, as well as preparatory actions and data purchases.

Unit C.4 is composed of a team of specialists with expert knowledge and experience of agriculture, rural development and environmental issues. The financial and technical managers within the team are jointly in charge of contracting out and managing evaluations and studies. Technical managers are experts in different policy areas and have relevant evaluation knowledge and skills, while the expertise of financial managers is in the area of contract management and public procurement. This unit collaborates closely with the policy units of DG AGRI. Each evaluation or study is overseen by a steering group, which not only draws upon knowledge from within DG AGRI, but also from other Directorates-General

Responsibility for the evaluation of pillar I lies directly with Unit C.4, who contracts work through open calls for tenders and manage various evaluations and studies.

Responsibility for the evaluation of rural development programmes (pillar II) lies with Member States. Unit C.4 supports and guides Member States in the preparation and execution of their evaluations, and are in charge of the EU synthesis of the ex ante and ex post evaluations carried out by Member States.

Some of the unit's technical managers also have responsibility for the Expert Group on Monitoring and Evaluating the CAP and manage the Evaluation Helpdesk contract.